OPPORTUNITIES TO ENHANCE LIFE SKILLS ON FINAL DAY OF ATHLETES’ FORUM

After the nine key recommendations presented at the end of the day two, the third and final day of the 2019 International Athletes’ Forum saw the first-ever joint day between the IOC Athletes’ Commission (AC) and the World Olympians Association.

The third and final day of a hugely successful Forum was a joint day between the IOC and the WOA

The day featured interactive and engaging sessions focused on communication, leadership, teamwork and life skills

Participants were able to access a wealth of resources through their Athlete365 Connect App, and had headshot photographs taken for professional use

“This was the most inclusive and diverse International Athletes’ Forum ever. It was a truly global athlete audience who participated,” said IOC AC Vice-Chair Danka Bartekova.

“Thank you for your cooperation, discussion and active participation. Let’s make the world a better place through the Olympic values.”

IOC AC Chair Kirsty Coventry added: “The athletes were really vocal throughout the two days, and now with the nine recommendations, it’s up to us to keep pushing, take the recommendations to the IOC Executive Board, and stay connected with this group of athlete representatives. They will be holding us accountable for those nine recommendations.”

Influence like a proDay three was characterised by a series of engaging group activities intended to promote communication, teamwork and life skills. For the afternoon session, a popular workshop gave athletes advice on how to take advantage of their unique skill-set to ‘influence like a pro’. Top tips on presenting style, making a good first impression, and being mindful of cultural differences, were all geared towards helping participants to influence stakeholders, whether as an athlete representative in a boardroom, or as a professional in a workplace capacity.

Earlier, delegates from the WOA and the global network of athletes’ commissions united as one to work on a range of continental-based team building activities, further developing their strong relationships. Each continental group considered the question of how retired athletes can help competing and transitioning athletes, with ideas presented to the Forum at the closing session.

Resources for allAcross all three days of the Forum, participants were able to ask questions and collect additional information at the International Athletes’ Forum marketplace, a hive of networking activity that was home to booths belonging to Lausanne 2020, Paris 2024, WADA, the Olympic Channel, the International Testing Agency, and a number of IOC and Athlete365 programmes.

In addition to the Athlete365 Network App – a first for the Forum – which kept athletes up-to-date on the sessions and gave them the ability to set up their own focus groups, participants were also given an Athlete365 Connect device upon arrival. This innovative tool allowed athletes to exchange digital business cards with a simple touch and collect useful resources and documents to support them and their commission, while contributing to a paper-free and environmentally-friendly event.

And perhaps the most useful resource of all was a photo booth provided by the IOC Images team, which took professional headshots of participants, ready for use in their commission and work-related activities.